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Pakistan’s local mobile phone industry kept up its momentum in 2025, with manufacturing and assembly plants producing 17.83 million handsets in the first seven months of the year. By contrast, only 1.03 million phones were imported commercially during the same period, according to official data.
The numbers show a strong July performance alone, when 3.59 million devices rolled off local production lines compared to just 0.17 million units entering the country through imports. For perspective, domestic plants produced 31.38 million phones in the full calendar year 2024, while only 1.71 million were brought in commercially.
Breaking down this year’s figures, the 17.83 million locally produced phones included 9.36 million 2G handsets and 8 million smartphones. PTA data further highlights the shift in usage patterns: 68 percent of mobile devices operating on Pakistani networks are smartphones, while the remaining 32 percent are 2G.
Despite strong local output, imports have climbed sharply in recent months. Pakistan spent $145.3 million on mobile phone imports in July 2025, more than double the $64.4 million recorded in the same month last year, a surge of over 125 percent.
In rupee terms, the import bill hit Rs41.38 billion, compared to Rs17.95 billion a year earlier, marking a growth of 130.45 percent. Month-on-month, imports rose 4.41 percent in July from June’s $39.46 million.
For the full fiscal year 2024-25, however, the trend looked different. Mobile phone imports totaled $1.49 billion, down 21.31 percent from $1.9 billion in 2023-24. In rupees, the value slipped 22.09 percent to Rs417.35 billion compared to Rs535.69 billion the year before.
Overall telecom imports followed a similar downward trajectory. The sector brought in $2.1 billion worth of equipment in 2024-25, reflecting an 11.3 percent drop from $2.37 billion in 2023-24.
